Woolpit, another mid Suffolk village about 10 miles from Bury St Edmunds with it's lovely timber framed buildings, old village pump and an impressive church. The name Woolpit is supposed to derive from the wolves which once scavaged the lands about here and indeed the last wolf in England is said to have been killed in a pit close to the village.

 

The sign above shows both the wolf and also two children which is part of an old legend in these parts that tells of 2 green children, a boy and a girl, who came up through a hole in a field at harvest time having been attracted by the sound of Woolpit's church bells. Taken to the home of a wealthy local man, Sir Richard de Calne, they would at first only eat greens. But bit by bit this was supplemented by meat and breat with the result of their general green hue being lost. Shortly afterwards, the boy died but the girl was baptised, married and had children. She later told how she originated from St Martin's Land, a country of perpetual twilight to be found beyond a great river, and that the two of them had followed the ringing bells only to lose their way home!

 

The village was long famous for its brick industry and the majority of the old buildings are faced with 'Woolpit Whites' The yellowish-white brick looked very much like more expensive stone and for several centuries was widely exported. Some was used in the building of the Senate wing of the Capital in Washington DC.

Once the old village Bakery these shops are now a gift shop and tearooms.

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